Communty-Policing question

[oscarmitre]

Good point metal. There is an inherent tension between the demand of the public for police attendance at incidents and the strategies of community policing. We went to community policing in 1986 and immediately it was apparent that it would be resource-intensive (ie it would require more personnel). We didn't get them.

We've now moved to a problem-solving policing approach and our organisation has been totally re-organised so that there is more local autonomy and we use a sort of modified CompStat system to fix responsibility for crime and other incidents on the local commander. But we did it without extra personnel which are sorely needed. So out on the road our patrols are going from job to job with no time to scratch themselves and the personnel dedicated to liaison with the community are doing a great job but are understaffed themselves.

[metallicat]

I guess that is the problem with any type of policing, lack of staffing. It would be nice if the city councils of the world would understand this, but I guess they would rather stick to critisizing the police for not following what they think should be happening. Frusterating for you police officers out there.

[HiTechCj]

Greetings:

POP and COP are not the same thing. The primary difference is in how community is defined. With COP community is primarily defined by geography - the founding theories involve Tiebot's law, normative theory, et al. In contrast, POP defines community by problem. These communities (often called stakeholders) are "temporary" communities who are brought together to solve a certain problem. Moreover, the transition COP models has been thought of as - political to professional to community" whereas the the transition to the POP model can be outlined as political to professional to incident driven to community to POP. It is my opinion that POP is the model most PDs will develop in the next decade. It makes more sense.

Now, the question - technology. Both the COP and POP models differ widely from agency to agency (there are 17K plus state and local agencies in the US). However, the best umbrella definition of both models probably comes from the DOJ COPPS. That definition states that technology is an "Enhancer of COP and POP."

One example in both models is the use of crime analysis for problem solving. Consider an increase in DUI related traffic collisions. Crime Analysis could show the increase and the typical agency response is increased enforcement with deployment and check points. But, is that solving the problem or treating the solution. There is very solid research that suggests it is treating the problem. A wider analysis of the problem will probably reveal that the DUI problem is related to the distribution of locations wherein alcohol is sold. In reality, the DUI problem may be related to vice violations at these locations. The better solution maybe to increase vice enforcement as a means to PREVENT DUI. There is a ton of cool research on DUI enforcement and crime analysis.

One last example of technology and POP or COP. Most cops realize that the solutions to problems are outside the police departments area of expertise. Probably 80% of calls for service are directly and indirectly related to problems that the police are not training, equipped or disposed to solve. Technology, through the use of databases of resources, hyperlinks between agencies, listservs, etc can help to create partnerships for the solution of problems.

Good luck with your paper. In July, "Police Technology (Prentice Hall, July 2004) publishes and many more of the relationships between technology and policing models is explored.....you can get it on Amazon.

Keep Well,


Raymond
www.hitechcj.com

[codered]

Wood, i tend to agree with 'dragonspider' on the community orinented policing situation ..............it is NOT a 'technological' sperpecitive, it is one of 'one on one' with thoes in the community , thoes that have guestions and concerns , and those that request 'ride alongs ' with pro-active officers .......that wish to educate and make a differance. Furthermore, the 'typical' citizen contact, wishes to have opinons 'known' as it relates to 'quality of life issues.'

[K9 Police]

The Saint Paul Police Department has always been a leader in Community Officer Policing. Here is an excellent study done of their department; showing how they evolved into COP from their grassroots. It is an excellent study however very long. It does mention how certain technological advancements such as computers in the squads, better reporting system, crime statistical systems and units, have help improve COP.

http://www.ncjrs.org/nij/cops_casestudy/stpaul2.html

K9